Parenting Preschoolers (3-5) Support Group

This community is focused on the joys, challenges and concerns faced by parents of preschoolers (3 to 5 year olds). The major areas of child development include: physical development, perception and sensory development, communication and language development, cognitive development, emotional development and social development. Join to share your stories and get advice.

Halloween Candy!

Since there are so many new members, I thought it would be a good idea to repost my thoughts on Halloween Candy!

Happy Halloween!

With Halloween just around the corner, I\'ve already started discussing \"the candy\" issue with my preschoolers. While it\'s certainly fun to go trick-or-treating... the fun turns into a real-life Halloween Nightmare when I have to say no to a 4th or 5th piece of candy (in a 10 minute period) I typically let them pick 2 or 3 small pieces of candy to eat on Halloween night. And then I have them pick 10 pieces of their favorite candy and we stash them for special treats to be distributed over the following few weeks. And then something interesting happens with all the leftover candy (that my husband and I dont eat) The Switch Witch visits our house and switches out the remaining candy with a toy, puzzle or book. While this may be a cop-out (as opposed to telling the kids were donating it and tossing it) it works for our family. And then I secretly take the candy to our preschool and I donate it to the candy drive. Im sure you can check your local neighborhood food banks, schools and or churches for similar candy drives. While I think all types of donations are important I have a hard time telling my children that they cant have the candy because its not good for their body, so well give it someone else its a catch-22. So, for now, the Switch Witch is a nice, fun option for us. Id love to hear other peoples ideas on what they do with their leftover Halloween Candy.

Also, another fun idea for leftover Halloween Candy... is to find ways to use them in recipes. You can freeze a lot of the candy and use them in recipes for the upcoming Holidays. Check out a book entitled: THE CANDY BAR COOKBOOK.

Personally we will not be trick or treating, instead we plan to go to an event our local church is running called Fall Fest where there will be games, candy, and lots of kids his age to run around with. This will dramatically reduce the amount of candy he gets, and increase the opportunity to have fun. In my eyes this is a great win-win, esply with the predicted rain!

I know that many parents make up stories like the \&quot;Switch Witch\&quot; and it works for them, but I personally rather not explain something away with a lie. In that situation I much rather explain that you were donating away the candy because while in large amounts it is not good for you, in small amounts it is just fun and many people are poor and do not have the opportunity to have fun foods occasionally. This reaffirms the moderation of candy, and helps to teach them the need to help others.

Again, that is just how I see it. Just a different point of view for you to consider. :)

I loved the idea of the \&quot;Switch Witch\&quot;. I personally think that in keeping with the Halloween fun something like that is a cute and imaginative solution. My kids donate toys to the homeless shelter all the time. It is my personal ministy, so they get a good dose of knowing there is needy people out there. (Among other things they always pick a chid from the tree at Christmas, help make blessing bags for the local hospital for when kids come in the emergency room, ect...) I think that the switch witch is like a santa clause type magic. I love magic and I love traditions. I try to always let my kids have some mystery that keeps them dreaming!

I can see both points of view. We have a fall festival at our church too. And no doubt it is alot of fun. But it has been intended to take the place of halloween. I want my kids to experience halloween. So we make a quick appearence, which adds to the candy they have recieved from countless parties and events they have already attended. Then they get to trick or treat at neighbors we know and at my brothers and mothers house. Then what they like best......Getting to hand out candy to the kids that come trick or treating!!!!!! We watch Nightmare Before Christmas in betwen knocks at the door! It is just fun!

I stand by what I always say.... You just have to decide what is right for your kid!!!!! Everybody is different! But this is what we do!

PLease Help Pass Bill on Mental Health Parity!
Mental Health Parity Vote Scheduled March 5 in Congress
February 29, 2008 - The EDC has been working throughout 2007 and early 2008 to enact full mental health parity. Now, victory is within reach. Following the Senate's passage of the Mental Health Parity Act (S. 558) by unanimous
consent, the House is ready to take up its version of the bill, H.R. 1424, on Wednesday, March 5. After that, Senate and House leaders will reconcile differences between the two versions of the bill in order to pass the strongest possible parity legislation.

As a supporter of mental health parity, we urge you to contact
your U.S. Representative NOW to urge support for H.R. 1424.

Take 3 minutes. Call now!

Use the toll-free Parity Hotline, 1-866-parity4 (1-866-727-4894), to call your U.S. Representative. (The Parity Hotline reaches the Capitol switchboard, which can connect callers to the members of Congress. Using this hotline, rather than calling House offices directly, helps us gauge our effectiveness.) If you are not sure of your Representative's name, you can find it by entering your zip code at www.house.gov.

Your message: &quot;I am a constituent of Representative ______ and a supporter of the Eating Disorders Coalition. I am calling to ask that the Representative vote for H.R. 1424, the Paul Wellstone Mental Health &amp; Addiction Equity Act. Parity is a fair and affordable solution to insurance discrimination against people with eating disorders and other mental disorders. It will save lives and families.&quot;

Background: The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007 expands the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 by prohibiting group health plans from imposing treatment or financial limitations on mental health benefits that are different from those applied to medical/surgical services. The legislation applies only to group health plans already providing mental health benefits and exempts plans sponsored by small businesses with fewer than 50 employees. For extensive information, link to the following EDC summary sheet on parity: http://www.eatingdisorderscoalition.org/legupdate/FactSheetsMPParity110.pdf

You can look up your representative by entering your zip code at the following government website:

I miss traveling with my husband. Has anyone found a specific site regarding cruising for widow/widowers or any sightseeing trips. Not interested in being with couples and kids,,,I realize a cruise ship will have a portion size of families and couples, but perhaps they also put together a part of the cruise ship for groups of widows/widowers????

A friend sent this to me..As far as I can see, grief will never truly end.It may become softer overtime, more gentleand some days will feel sharp.But grief will last as long as Love does - ForeverIt's simply the way the absence of your loved onemanifests in your heart. A deep longing accompaniedby the deepest Love some days. The heavy fog mayreturn and the next day, it may recede.Once again, it's...

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